Week 15 - Semester 2 begins

rosieglenwright
Jan 21, 2020
3 min read

Updated: May 4, 2020

Progress over Christmas

So over the Christmas holidays I have been trying to balance conducting research for my honours project as well as complete my dissertation. I spent the majority of my time focussing on my dissertation as I did not spend as much on it as I should have during the semester. In my dissertation I conducted a social experiment in which I investigated the possible benefits of conducting a “digital detox”, where participants gave up their smartphones and social media in the hope of rebalancing their relationship with technology.

As a result of the widespread use of smartphones in the 21st century, large tech companies make use of addictive design to subconsciously manipulate consumers into spending as much time on their platforms as possible. The use of these brain hacking strategies can often have significant side effects on an individual’s health, such as impulsive behaviour and the inability to concentrate or stay focussed in everyday life. The purpose of this study was to investigate and measure the effectiveness of using a digital detox as a remedy to counteract some of the negative effects of exposure to excessive online activity.

To test this theory eight participants (of differing age and gender) took part in the digital detox study where they gave up their smartphones and social media for one week. First, participants completed a personality test and a scored survey prior to the detox, secondly screen time was recorded at multiple times throughout the process, and finally a survey and interview were carried out with each participant after completion of the detox.

Results from the detox showed an initial decrease in screen activity immediately after the detox as expected and participants reported being more productive as a result of having no smartphone or social media interference. It was found that participants became significantly more aware of how time consuming and intrusive their digital habits impacted their life. Despite some increases in screen time amongst participants one-month post detox, all agreed they were positively impacted by the detox in some way.

The findings demonstrate that in particular, a digital detox can help individuals in becoming more aware of their addictive online behavioural patterns as well as highlighting the benefits of technology without abusing it. Detoxing from digital devices can help individuals rebalance their relationship with technology, however further research is needed in order to find the best way to achieve a more permanent solution.

Conducting a social experiment allowed me to get a deeper understanding of the behaviours and attitudes surrounding excessive smartphone and social media use. I have found myself drawn to sociological issues within modern society that impact my life in some way. Tracking data about my daily life in semester one allowed me to uncover some underlying digital habits that I was not aware I had. This then led me on to explore the increase of my smartphone and social media use and the impact they were having on my life. I found it incredibly interesting looking into the psychological, sociological and physiological impacts that smartphone addiction can have on your life.

I want to take a similar approach for my honours project and start researching the behaviours that prevent women from reaching equality instead of focussing my attention on street harassment which is one of the many forms on the spectrum of sexism.